And now, as a blessed relief from negativity and ranting, I present a handful of alpine marmot photos, taken around the Ritom area, Ticino, last sunday afternoon.

All taken with an Olympus E-5 and Digital Zuiko 50-200mm f2.8-f3.5 or 150mm f2.0 lenses. Yep, they still work.

Off to work we go. Not such a bad place to live, Lugano. Not all that many people’s daily commutes have this sort of view.

Towards the end of the summer, and little more than a stone’s throw away from the rather mundane place I work, there lies a wooded hill covered in tangled undergrowth, criss-crossed by faded, hardly remembered pathways, concealing secrets and mysteries, buried memories of a disconnected past. At least that’s how I seemed to me, and a little romanticising never did any lasting damage. As the autumn set in and the leaves fell, some secrets revealed themselves, while others dug themselves in deeper. This is the first part in what might be a trilogy of photo essays I brought back from my forays into the woods above Camorino.

The Pipe

Ok, so you want the facts ? Well, The Pipe is actually a conduit feeding water from several dams and culverts higher up the mountain to the small hydro-electric plant in Val Morobbia. The plant was originally built around 1905, providing some of the earliest electrical power in Ticino. This conduit was actually constructed in the 1970s, replacing the original one, now long since dismantled. Originally there was a collecting reservoir half way up the hill, which is now disused and overgrown, replaced by an underground facility. This reservoir, the “Vecchio Bacino” must have been quite a feat of engineering and, in particular, manual labour. Perched at about 400m above the river, it has no road access - as I discovered after following The Pipe to get to it. Life was not so easy just a mere 100 years ago.

So I might have felt like I was wandering around a set from “Lost”, but even without daydreaming, the truth of the tale is fascinating. Well it is to me, anyway. I’m a sucker for industrial archeology.

Well, ok, one snake. But no question about the rain. I encountered this extremely lethargic specimen on a track leading up from the middle of nowhere to the back of beyond. Since it was at risk from the occasional farm truck, mountain biker or hiker, I decided to remove it - carefully - to a slighty less exposed spot which hopefully might get some sun soon. I’ve no idea what kind of snake it is - or even if is actually a true snake. It seems to have a more lizard-like head. Possibly a viper, though.

Mystery reptile. Olympus E-5 with 12-60 ZUIKO Digital lens

Just a short walk today. But time enough to revisit a potentially photographically rich location, hidden away at the back of the village of Giubiasco. This is where my current favourite pipe ends up, feeding the old power station by the river. I believe it contributes something like 0.0002% of local electricity needs. Still, it’s a very clean 0.0002%.

beneath (the grid). Ricoh GRD IV, processed in FilterStorm Pro

See the alternative edit in Aperture